All's Well That Ends Well/Act 5
ACT V. SCENE 1. Marseilles. A street. HELENA, Widow, and DIANA, with two Attendants. HELENA. :But this exceeding posting day and night :Must wear your spirits low: we cannot help it. :But since you have made the days and nights as one, :To wear your gentle limbs in my affairs, :Be bold you do so grow in my requital :As nothing can unroot you. In happy time;— a GENTLEMAN. :This man may help me to his majesty's ear, :If he would spend his power.—God save you, sir. GENTLEMAN. :And you. HELENA. :Sir, I have seen you in the court of France. GENTLEMAN. :I have been sometimes there. HELENA. :I do presume, sir, that you are not fallen :From the report that goes upon your goodness; :And therefore, goaded with most sharp occasions, :Which lay nice manners by, I put you to :The use of your own virtues, for the which :I shall continue thankful. GENTLEMAN. :What's your will? HELENA. :That it will please you :To give this poor petition to the king; :And aid me with that store of power you have :To come into his presence. GENTLEMAN. :The king's not here. HELENA. :Not here, sir? GENTLEMAN. :Not indeed. :He hence remov'd last night, and with more haste :Than is his use. WIDOW. :Lord, how we lose our pains! HELENA. :All's well that ends well yet, :Though time seem so adverse and means unfit. :I do beseech you, whither is he gone? GENTLEMAN. :Marry, as I take it, to Rousillon; :Whither I am going. HELENA. :I do beseech you, sir, :Since you are like to see the king before me, :Commend the paper to his gracious hand; :Which I presume shall render you no blame, :But rather make you thank your pains for it: :I will come after you with what good speed :Our means will make us means. GENTLEMAN. :This I'll do for you. HELENA. :And you shall find yourself to be well thank'd, :Whate'er falls more.—We must to horse again;— :Go, go, provide. Exeunt. SCENE 2. Rousillon. The inner court of the COUNTESS'S palace. CLOWN and PAROLLES. PAROLLES. :Good Monsieur Lavache, give my Lord Lafeu this letter: I have :ere now, sir, been better known to you, when I have held :familiarity with fresher clothes; but I am now, sir, muddied in :fortune's mood, and smell somewhat strong of her strong :displeasure. CLOWN. :Truly, Fortune's displeasure is but sluttish, if it smell :so strongly as thou speak'st of: I will henceforth eat no fish :of fortune's buttering. Pr'ythee, allow the wind. PAROLLES. :Nay, you need not to stop your nose, sir; I spake but by a :metaphor. CLOWN. :Indeed, sir, if your metaphor stink, I will stop my nose; or :against any man's metaphor. Pr'ythee, get thee further. PAROLLES. :Pray you, sir, deliver me this paper. CLOWN. :Foh, pr'ythee stand away. A paper from Fortune's close-stool :to give to a nobleman! Look here he comes himself. LAFEU. :Here is a pur of fortune's, sir, or of fortune's cat (but not :a musk-cat), that has fallen into the unclean fishpond of her :displeasure, and, as he says, is muddied withal: pray you, sir, :use the carp as you may; for he looks like a poor, decayed, :ingenious, foolish, rascally knave. I do pity his distress :in my similes of comfort, and leave him to your lordship. Exit. PAROLLES. :My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched. LAFEU. :And what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her :nails now. Wherein have you played the knave with fortune, that :she should scratch you, who of herself is a good lady, and would :not have knaves thrive long under her? There's a quart d'ecu for :you: let the justices make you and fortune friends; I am for :other business. PAROLLES. :I beseech your honour to hear me one single word. LAFEU. :You beg a single penny more: come, you shall ha't: save your :word. PAROLLES. :My name, my good lord, is Parolles. LAFEU. :You beg more than word then.—Cox' my passion! give me your :hand:—how does your drum? PAROLLES. :O my good lord, you were the first that found me. LAFEU. :Was I, in sooth? and I was the first that lost thee. PAROLLES. :It lies in you, my lord, to bring me in some grace, for :you did bring me out. LAFEU. :Out upon thee, knave! dost thou put upon me at once both the :office of God and the devil? one brings the in grace, and the :other brings thee out. sound. :The king's coming; I know by his trumpets.—Sirrah, inquire :further after me; I had talk of you last night: though you are a :fool and a knave, you shall eat: go to; follow. PAROLLES. :I praise God for you. Exeunt. SCENE 3. The same. A room in the COUNTESS'S palace. Enter KING, COUNTESS, LAFEU, Lords, Gentlemen, Guards, &c. KING. :We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem :Was made much poorer by it: but your son, :As mad in folly, lack'd the sense to know :Her estimation home. COUNTESS. :'Tis past, my liege: :And I beseech your majesty to make it :Natural rebellion, done i' the blaze of youth, :When oil and fire, too strong for reason's force, :O'erbears it and burns on. KING. :My honour'd lady, :I have forgiven and forgotten all; :Though my revenges were high bent upon him, :And watch'd the time to shoot. LAFEU. :This I must say,— :But first, I beg my pardon,—the young lord :Did to his majesty, his mother, and his lady, :Offence of mighty note; but to himself :The greatest wrong of all: he lost a wife :Whose beauty did astonish the survey :Of richest eyes; whose words all ears took captive; :Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn'd to serve :Humbly call'd mistress. KING. :Praising what is lost :Makes the remembrance dear.—Well, call him hither;— :We are reconcil'd, and the first view shall kill :All repetition:—let him not ask our pardon; :The nature of his great offence is dead, :And deeper than oblivion do we bury :Th' incensing relics of it; let him approach, :A stranger, no offender; and inform him, :So 'tis our will he should. GENTLEMAN. :I shall, my liege. Gentleman. KING. :What says he to your daughter? have you spoke? LAFEU. :All that he is hath reference to your highness. KING. :Then shall we have a match. I have letters sent me :That sets him high in fame. BERTRAM. LAFEU. :He looks well on 't. KING. :I am not a day of season, :For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail :In me at once: but to the brightest beams :Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth; :The time is fair again. BERTRAM. :My high-repented blames, :Dear sovereign, pardon to me. KING. :All is whole; :Not one word more of the consumed time. :Let's take the instant by the forward top; :For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees :The inaudible and noiseless foot of time :Steals ere we can effect them. You remember :The daughter of this lord? BERTRAM. :Admiringly, my liege: at first :I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart :Durst make too bold herald of my tongue: :Where the impression of mine eye infixing, :Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me, :Which warp'd the line of every other favour; :Scorned a fair colour, or express'd it stolen; :Extended or contracted all proportions :To a most hideous object: thence it came :That she whom all men prais'd, and whom myself, :Since I have lost, have lov'd, was in mine eye :The dust that did offend it. KING. :Well excus'd: :That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away :From the great compt: but love that comes too late, :Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried, :To the great sender turns a sour offence, :Crying, That's good that's gone. Our rash faults :Make trivial price of serious things we have, :Not knowing them until we know their grave: :Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust, :Destroy our friends, and after weep their dust: :Our own love waking cries to see what's done, :While shameful hate sleeps out the afternoon. :Be this sweet Helen's knell, and now forget her. :Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin: :The main consents are had; and here we'll stay :To see our widower's second marriage-day. COUNTESS. :Which better than the first, O dear heaven, bless! :Or, ere they meet, in me, O nature, cesse! LAFEU. :Come on, my son, in whom my house's name :Must be digested, give a favour from you, :To sparkle in the spirits of my daughter, :That she may quickly come.— gives a ring to Lafeu. :By my old beard, :And every hair that's on 't, Helen, that's dead, :Was a sweet creature: such a ring as this, :The last that e'er I took her leave at court, :I saw upon her finger. BERTRAM. :Hers it was not. KING. :Now, pray you, let me see it; for mine eye, :While I was speaking, oft was fasten'd to it.— :This ring was mine; and when I gave it Helen :I bade her, if her fortunes ever stood :Necessitied to help, that by this token :I would relieve her. Had you that craft to 'reave her :Of what should stead her most? BERTRAM. :My gracious sovereign, :Howe'er it pleases you to take it so, :The ring was never hers. COUNTESS. :Son, on my life, :I have seen her wear it; and she reckon'd it :At her life's rate. LAFEU. :I am sure I saw her wear it. BERTRAM. :You are deceiv'd, my lord; she never saw it: :In Florence was it from a casement thrown me, :Wrapp'd in a paper, which contain'd the name :Of her that threw it: noble she was, and thought :I stood engag'd: but when I had subscrib'd :To mine own fortune, and inform'd her fully :I could not answer in that course of honour :As she had made the overture, she ceas'd, :In heavy satisfaction, and would never :Receive the ring again. KING. :Plutus himself, :That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine, :Hath not in nature's mystery more science :Than I have in this ring: 'twas mine, 'twas Helen's, :Whoever gave it you. Then, if you know :That you are well acquainted with yourself, :Confess 'twas hers, and by what rough enforcement :You got it from her: she call'd the saints to surety :That she would never put it from her finger :Unless she gave it to yourself in bed,— :Where you have never come,—or sent it us :Upon her great disaster. BERTRAM. :She never saw it. KING. :Thou speak'st it falsely, as I love mine honour; :And mak'st conjectural fears to come into me :Which I would fain shut out. If it should prove :That thou art so inhuman,—'twill not prove so:— :And yet I know not:—thou didst hate her deadly. :And she is dead; which nothing, but to close :Her eyes myself, could win me to believe :More than to see this ring.—Take him away. seize BERTRAM. :My fore-past proofs, howe'er the matter fall, :Shall tax my fears of little vanity, :Having vainly fear'd too little.—Away with him;— :We'll sift this matter further. BERTRAM. :If you shall prove :This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy :Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence, :Where she yet never was. guarded. KING. :I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings. a Gentleman. GENTLEMAN. :Gracious sovereign, :Whether I have been to blame or no, I know not: :Here's a petition from a Florentine, :Who hath, for four or five removes, come short :To tender it herself. I undertook it, :Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and speech :Of the poor suppliant, who by this, I know, :Is here attending: her business looks in her :With an importing visage; and she told me :In a sweet verbal brief, it did concern :Your highness with herself. KING. :Reads. 'Upon his many protestations to marry me, when his wife :was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Now is the count :Rousillon a widower; his vows are forfeited to me, and my :honour's paid to him. He stole from Florence, taking no leave, :and I follow him to his country for justice: grant it me, O king; :in you it best lies; otherwise a seducer flourishes, and a poor :maid is undone. : DIANA CAPULET.' LAFEU. :I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll this: I'll none of :him. KING. :The heavens have thought well on thee, Lafeu, :To bring forth this discovery.—Seek these suitors:— :Go speedily, and bring again the count. Gentleman, and some Attendants. :I am afeard the life of Helen, lady, :Was foully snatch'd. COUNTESS. :Now, justice on the doers! BERTRAM, guarded. KING. :I wonder, sir, since wives are monsters to you. :And that you fly them as you swear them lordship, :Yet you desire to marry.—What woman's that? Widow and DIANA. DIANA. :I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine, :Derived from the ancient Capulet; :My suit, as I do understand, you know, :And therefore know how far I may be pitied. WIDOW. :I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour :Both suffer under this complaint we bring, :And both shall cease, without your remedy. KING. :Come hither, count; do you know these women? BERTRAM. :My lord, I neither can nor will deny :But that I know them: do they charge me further? DIANA. :Why do you look so strange upon your wife? BERTRAM. :She's none of mine, my lord. DIANA. :If you shall marry, :You give away this hand, and that is mine; :You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine; :You give away myself, which is known mine; :For I by vow am so embodied yours :That she which marries you must marry me, :Either both or none. LAFEU. :BERTRAM Your reputation comes too short for :my daughter; you are no husband for her. BERTRAM. :My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature :Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness :Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour :Than for to think that I would sink it here. KING. :Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend :Till your deeds gain them: fairer prove your honour :Than in my thought it lies! DIANA. :Good my lord, :Ask him upon his oath, if he does think :He had not my virginity. KING. :What say'st thou to her? BERTRAM. :She's impudent, my lord; :And was a common gamester to the camp. DIANA. :He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so :He might have bought me at a common price: :Do not believe him. O, behold this ring, :Whose high respect and rich validity :Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that, :He gave it to a commoner o' the camp, :If I be one. COUNTESS. :He blushes, and 'tis it: :Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, :Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue, :Hath it been ow'd and worn. This is his wife; :That ring's a thousand proofs. KING. :Methought you said :You saw one here in court could witness it. DIANA. :I did, my lord, but loath am to produce :So bad an instrument; his name's Parolles. LAFEU. :I saw the man to-day, if man he be. KING. :Find him, and bring him hither. an Attendant. BERTRAM. :What of him? :He's quoted for a most perfidious slave, :With all the spots o' the world tax'd and debauch'd: :Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth: :Am I or that or this for what he'll utter, :That will speak anything? KING. :She hath that ring of yours. BERTRAM. :I think she has: certain it is I lik'd her, :And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth: :She knew her distance, and did angle for me, :Madding my eagerness with her restraint, :As all impediments in fancy's course :Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine, :Her infinite cunning with her modern grace, :Subdu'd me to her rate: she got the ring; :And I had that which any inferior might :At market-price have bought. DIANA. :I must be patient: :You that have turn'd off a first so noble wife :May justly diet me. I pray you yet,— :Since you lack virtue, I will lose a husband,— :Send for your ring, I will return it home, :And give me mine again. BERTRAM. :I have it not. KING. :What ring was yours, I pray you? DIANA. :Sir, much like :The same upon your finger. KING. :Know you this ring? this ring was his of late. DIANA. :And this was it I gave him, being a-bed. KING. :The story, then, goes false you threw it him :Out of a casement. DIANA. :I have spoke the truth. BERTRAM. :My lord, I do confess the ring was hers. KING. :You boggle shrewdly; every feather starts you.— Attendant, with PAROLLES. :Is this the man you speak of? DIANA. :Ay, my lord. KING. :Tell me, sirrah, but tell me true I charge you, :Not fearing the displeasure of your master,— :Which, on your just proceeding, I'll keep off,— :By him and by this woman here what know you? PAROLLES. :So please your majesty, my master hath been an honourable :gentleman; tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have. KING. :Come, come, to the purpose: did he love this woman? PAROLLES. :Faith, sir, he did love her; but how? KING. :How, I pray you? PAROLLES. :He did love her, sir, as a gentleman loves a woman. KING. :How is that? PAROLLES. :He loved her, sir, and loved her not. KING. :As thou art a knave and no knave.— :What an equivocal companion is this! PAROLLES. :I am a poor man, and at your majesty's command. LAFEU. :He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator. DIANA. :Do you know he promised me marriage? PAROLLES. :Faith, I know more than I'll speak. KING. :But wilt thou not speak all thou know'st? PAROLLES. :Yes, so please your majesty; I did go between them, as I :said; but more than that, he loved her,—for indeed he was mad :for her, and talked of Satan, and of limbo, and of furies, and I :know not what: yet I was in that credit with them at that time :that I knew of their going to bed; and of other motions, as :promising her marriage, and things which would derive me ill-will :to speak of; therefore I will not speak what I know. KING. :Thou hast spoken all already, unless thou canst say they are :married: but thou art too fine in thy evidence; therefore stand :aside.—This ring, you say, was yours? DIANA. :Ay, my good lord. KING. :Where did you buy it? or who gave it you? DIANA. :It was not given me, nor I did not buy it. KING. :Who lent it you? DIANA. :It was not lent me neither. KING. :Where did you find it then? DIANA. :I found it not. KING. :If it were yours by none of all these ways, :How could you give it him? DIANA. :I never gave it him. LAFEU. :This woman's an easy glove, my lord; she goes off and on at :pleasure. KING. :This ring was mine, I gave it his first wife. DIANA. :It might be yours or hers, for aught I know. KING. :Take her away, I do not like her now; :To prison with her: and away with him.— :Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring, :Thou diest within this hour. DIANA. :I'll never tell you. KING. :Take her away. DIANA. :I'll put in bail, my liege. KING. :I think thee now some common customer. DIANA. :By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas you. KING. :Wherefore hast thou accus'd him all this while? DIANA. :Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty: :He knows I am no maid, and he'll swear to't: :I'll swear I am a maid, and he knows not. :Great King, I am no strumpet, by my life; :I am either maid, or else this old man's wife. to LAFEU. KING. :She does abuse our ears; to prison with her. DIANA. :Good mother, fetch my bail.—Stay, royal sir; WIDOW. :The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for, :And he shall surety me. But for this lord :Who hath abus'd me as he knows himself, :Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him: :He knows himself my bed he hath defil'd; :And at that time he got his wife with child. :Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick; :So there's my riddle:—One that's dead is quick; :And now behold the meaning. Widow with HELENA. KING. :Is there no exorcist :Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes? :Is't real that I see? HELENA. :No, my good lord; :'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see— :The name, and not the thing. BERTRAM. :Both, both; O, pardon! HELENA. :O, my good lord, when I was like this maid; :I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring, :And, look you, here's your letter. This it says, :'When from my finger you can get this ring, :And are by me with child, &c.'— This is done: :Will you be mine now you are doubly won? BERTRAM. :If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, :I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly. HELENA. :If it appear not plain, and prove untrue, :Deadly divorce step between me and you!— :O my dear mother, do I see you living? LAFEU. :Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep anon:— :Good Tom Drum PAROLLES, lend me a handkercher: so, I :thank thee; wait on me home, I'll make sport with thee: :let thy courtesies alone, they are scurvy ones. KING. :Let us from point to point this story know, :To make the even truth in pleasure flow:— :If thou beest yet a fresh uncropped flower, DIANA. :Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower; :For I can guess that, by thy honest aid, :Thou kept'st a wife herself, thyself a maid. :Of that and all the progress, more and less, :Resolvedly more leisure shall express: :All yet seems well; and if it end so meet, :The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet. Flourish. :The king's a beggar, now the play is done; :All is well-ended if this suit be won, :That you express content; which we will pay :With strife to please you, day exceeding day: :Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts; :Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts. Exeunt. THE END Category:Article Subpages